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Bulgarian legislation as recent as the Preschool and School Education Act of 2015 underlines the value of early childhood education as an important prerequisite to entering mainstream schools as well as establishing a foothold for the fundamentals of early literacy and numeracy. Already as early as the 2012-2013 school year, Bulgaria introduced mandatory two-year preschool education, and by 2014 participation topped 81 percent.

Members of REF’s governing board Andrzej Mirga (Chair), William Bila and Dr. Nicoleta Bitu, and REF Director Nadir Redzepi, attended the official launch of the European Roma Institute of Arts and Culture in Berlin on June 8, 2017.

The Roma Education Fund organized a media event on Monday, June 12, at the premises of “Fabrika” in Belgrade, on the occasion of the beginning of the project “Improved Education and Integration Opportunities for Roma in Serbia.”

The Roma Education Fund was pleased to be among the supporters of an international conference on education held June 2-3, 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic. "Quality Education for Everyone was organized by Slovo 21 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová.

The Roma Education Fund's 2016 Annual Report is available as reader-friendly highlights and in full. Inside interested readers will find all the relevant about REF's programs that have brought about significant improvements in Roma educational outcomes in 2016.

After two years of establishing the groundwork for measurable impacts in early childhood education at 14 sites in 11 municipalities in six counties in Romania, Ready, Set, Go! has inspired hundreds of children to enroll in local kindergartens, many of them attending early childhood education and care for the first time.